Dataset Information

Is unemployment in young adulthood related to self-rated health later in life? Results from the Northern Swedish cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many studies have reported that unemployment has a negative effect on health. However, little is known about the long-term effect for those who become unemployed when they are young adults. Our aim was to examine how unemployment is related to long-term self-rated health among 30 year olds, with an emphasis on how health differs in relation to education level, marital status, previous health, occupation, and gender.

Methods

In the Northern Swedish Cohort, 1083 teenagers (~16 years old) were originally invited in 1981. Of these, 1001 participated in the follow-up surveys in 1995 and 2007. In our study, we included participants with either self-reported unemployment or activity in the labor force during the previous three years in the 1995 follow-up so long as they had no self-reported unemployment between the follow-up surveys. Labor market status was studied in relation to self-reported health in the 2007 follow-up. Information from the 1995 follow-up for education level, marital status, self-reported health, and occupation were part of the statistical analyses. Analyses were stratified for these variables and for gender. Analyses were performed with logistic regression, G-computation, and a method based on propensity scores.

Results

Poor self-rated health in 2007 was reported among 43 of the 98 (44%) unemployed and 159 (30%) of the 522 employed subjects. Unemployment had a long-term negative effect on health (odds ratio with logistic regression 1.74 and absolute difference estimates of 0.11 (G-computation) and 0.10 (propensity score method)). At the group level, the most pronounced effects on health were seen in those with upper secondary school as their highest education level, those who were single, low-level white-collar workers, and women.

Conclusions

Even among those becoming unemployed during young adulthood, unemployment is related to a negative long-term health effect. However, the effect varies among different groups of individuals. Increased emphasis on understanding the groups for whom unemployment is most strongly related to ill health is important for future research so that efforts can be put towards those with the biggest need. Still, our results can be used as the basis for deciding which groups should be prioritized for labor-market interventions.

SUBMITTER: Norstrom F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5450391 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Is unemployment in young adulthood related to self-rated health later in life? Results from the Northern Swedish cohort.

Norström Fredrik F Janlert Urban U Hammarström Anne A

BMC public health 20170530 1

<h4>Background</h4>Many studies have reported that unemployment has a negative effect on health. However, little is known about the long-term effect for those who become unemployed when they are young adults. Our aim was to examine how unemployment is related to long-term self-rated health among 30 year olds, with an emphasis on how health differs in relation to education level, marital status, previous health, occupation, and gender.<h4>Methods</h4>In the Northern Swedish Cohort, 1083 teenagers ...[more]

PMID: 28558793

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:High blood pressure in middle age is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but the consequences of low-level elevations during young adulthood are unknown. OBJECTIVE:To measure the association between prehypertension exposure before age 35 years and coronary calcium later in life. DESIGN:Prospective cohort study. SETTING:Four communities in the United States. PARTICIPANTS:Black and white men and women age 18 to 30 years recruited for the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study in 1985 through 1986 who were without hypertension before age 35 years. MEASUREMENTS:Blood pressure trajectories for each participant were estimated by using measurements from 7 examinations over the course of 20 years. Cumulative exposure to blood pressure in the prehypertension range (systolic blood pressure of 120 to 139 mm Hg, or diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 89 mm Hg) from age 20 to 35 years was calculated in units of mm Hg-years (similar to pack-years of tobacco exposure) and related to the presence of coronary calcium measured at each participant's last examination (mean age, 44 years [SD, 4]). RESULTS:Among 3560 participants, the 635 (18%) who developed prehypertension before age 35 years were more often black, male, overweight, and of lower socioeconomic status. Exposure to prehypertension before age 35 years, especially systolic prehypertension, showed a graded association with coronary calcium later in life (coronary calcium prevalence of 15%, 24%, and 38% for 0, 1 to 30, and >30 mm Hg-years of exposure, respectively; P < 0.001). This association remained strong after adjustment for blood pressure elevation after age 35 years and other coronary risk factors and participant characteristics. LIMITATION:Coronary calcium, although a strong predictor of future coronary heart disease, is not a clinical outcome. CONCLUSION:Prehypertension during young adulthood is common and is associated with coronary atherosclerosis 20 years later. Keeping systolic pressure below 120 mm Hg before age 35 years may provide important health benefits later in life.

Project description:BACKGROUNDElevated circulating branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), measured at a single time point in middle life, are strongly associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). However, the longitudinal patterns of change in BCAAs through young adulthood and their association with DM in later life are unknown.METHODSWe serially measured BCAAs over 28 years in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a prospective cohort of apparently healthy Black and White young adults at baseline. Trajectories of circulating BCAA concentrations from years 2-30 (for prevalent DM) or years 2-20 (for incident DM) were determined by latent class modeling.RESULTSAmong 3,081 apparently healthy young adults, trajectory analysis from years 2-30 revealed 3 distinct BCAA trajectory groups: low-stable (n = 1,427), moderate-stable (n = 1,384), and high-increasing (n = 270) groups. Male sex, higher body mass index, and higher atherogenic lipid fractions were more common in the moderate-stable and high-increasing groups. Higher risk of prevalent DM was associated with the moderate-stable (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.90-3.55) and high-increasing (OR = 6.03, 95% CI: 3.86-9.43) BCAA trajectory groups in adjusted models. A separate trajectory group analysis from years 2-20 for incident DM after year 20 showed that moderate-stable and high-increasing trajectory groups were also significantly associated with higher risk of incident DM, after adjustment for clinical variables and glucose levels.CONCLUSIONBCAA levels track over a 28-year span in most young adults, but serial clinical metabolomic measurements identify subpopulations with rising levels associated with high risk of DM in later life.FUNDINGThis research was supported by the NIH, under grants R01 HL146844 (JTW) and T32 HL069771 (MRC). The CARDIA study is conducted and supported by the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (HHSN268201800005I and HHSN268201800007I), Northwestern University (HHSN268201800003I), the University of Minnesota (HHSN268201800006I), and Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (HHSN268201800004I).

Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that unemployment has negative impacts on various aspects of health. However, little is known about the effect of unemployment on health-related quality of life. Our aim was to examine how unemployment impacts upon health-related quality of life among Swedish adults, and to investigate these effects on population subgroups defined by education level, marital status, previous health, and gender.MethodsAs part of a cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was sent to 2500 randomly selected individuals aged 20 to 64 years living in Sweden in 2016. The questionnaire included the EuroQol 5 dimensions (EQ-5D) instrument and was answered by 967 individuals (39%). Quality-adjusted life year (QALY) scores were derived from the EQ-5D responses. Of the respondents, 113 were unemployed and 724 were employed. We used inverse probability-weighted propensity scores in our analyses to estimate a risk difference. Gender, age, education level, marital status, and previous health were used as covariates in our analyses.ResultsThere was a statistically significant lower QALY score by 0.096 points for the unemployed compared to the employed. There were also statistically significant more problems due to unemployment for usual activities (6.6% more), anxiety/depression (23.6% more), and EQ-5D's Visual Analogue Scale (7.5 point lower score). Grouped analyses indicated a larger negative health effect from becoming unemployed for men, those who are married, and young individuals.ConclusionsIn our study, we show that the health deterioration from unemployment is likely to be large, as our estimated effect implies an almost 10% worse health (in absolute terms) from being unemployed compared to being employed. This further highlights that unemployment is a public health problem that needs more focus. Our study also raises further demands for determining for whom unemployment has the most negative effects and thus suggesting groups of individuals who are in greatest need for labor market measures.

Dataset Information

Is unemployment in young adulthood related to self-rated health later in life? Results from the Northern Swedish cohort.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Is unemployment in young adulthood related to self-rated health later in life? Results from the Northern Swedish cohort.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets